[施政報告2018] Policy Address Highlight

2018 Policy Address Highlight (Edited)
施政報告2018

Land and Housing

Housing

• Delink the selling prices of subsidised sale flats from the market prices
• Allow owners of its subsidised sale flats with premium unpaid to sublet their flats to families in need; introduce an initiative whereby under-occupied public rental housing households may enjoy rent exemption upon transfer
• Introduce the “Flat for Flat Pilot Scheme for Elderly Owners”
• Allocate land to support the HKHS in redeveloping its aged housing estates 
• Invite the Urban Renewal Authority to explore redevelopment of the sites under the Civil Servants’ Co-operative Building Society Scheme

Land Supply

• Launch the “Lantau Tomorrow Vision”, commence a study on the reclamation for artificial islands to increase land supply in Hong Kong
• Complete two studies on brownfield operations
• Introduce the “Land Sharing Pilot Scheme” for meeting the short to medium-term housing demand
• Reactivate the revitalisation scheme for industrial buildings to provide incentives to owners to convert old industrial buildings, and allow the provision of transitional housing within revitalised industrial buildings

Liveable City

Transport

• Provide more public car parking spaces in government facilities and public open space projects 
• Revive the “Central-Hung Hom” ferry route; launch a pilot “water taxi” service plying between Kai Tak, Hung Hom, Tsim Sha Tsui East, West Kowloon and Central
• Tighten the emission standards for newly registered motorcycles in 2020, phase out Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles by the end of 2023, conduct consultation on ceasing the first registration of diesel private cars

Environmental Protection

• Implement municipal solid waste charging and provide additional resources for the implementation of waste reduction and recycling; take the lead to avoid using disposable plastic tableware and study the feasibility of regulatory control on the use of such tableware
• Develop renewable energy with the Government taking the lead and provide support to individuals and non-governmental organisations to install renewable energy installations

Animal Welfare

• Amend the relevant legislation to protect animal welfare
• Implement the Animal Watchers Scheme by the Police

Labour and Welfare

• Secure the passage of the enabling legislation to abolish the “offsetting” arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme within the current term of the Government, and implement the abolition two years after the legislative amendments. The Government will enhance the support for employers and assist the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in making preparation for the change
• Extend the statutory maternity leave to 14 weeks, where the employers can apply for reimbursement of the additional expenditure on four weeks’ statutory maternity leave from the Government; and extend the maternity leave for all female employees of the Government to 14 weeks with immediate effect
• Increase the statutory paternity leave from 3 days to 5 days
• Study new measures for protecting employees injured at work and occupational disease sufferers, including enhanced treatment and rehabilitation services, speeding up processing of work injury cases and stepping up investigation and prosecution efforts against non-compliance
• Allocate additional resources for the Commission on Children for implementing measures in safeguarding the interests and well-being of children, including enhancing child care services, early identification of and provision of assistance to pre-school children and their families with welfare needs and strengthening support for divorced or separated families
• Increase the number of service places of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services
• Formulate a new Hong Kong Rehabilitation Programme Plan and strengthen community support services for families of persons with disabilities, including setting up District Support Centres and enhancing home-based care services
• Provide additional places under the Enhanced Home and Community Care Services and additional vouchers under the Second Phase of the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly
• Extend the Old Age Living Allowance to Guangdong and Fujian Provinces so as to further facilitate Hong Kong elderly persons who choose to reside in these two provinces

Innovation and Technology

• Introduce fellowship schemes for outstanding academics to strengthen the pool of talent in research and innovation and technology in Hong Kong
• Expedite re-industrialisation by establishing a re-industrialisation funding scheme to subsidise manufacturers to set up smart production lines in Hong Kong and allocating $2 billion for building manufacturing facilities required by the advanced manufacturing sector in industrial estates
• Promote technology transfer by increasing the funding support to the Technology Transfer Offices of universities, the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities, as well as the State Key Laboratories and Hong Kong branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centre
• Announce annual plans to open up data by government departments
• Launch pro-innovation government procurement policies
• Issue the first batch of virtual banking licences
• Proactively open up appropriate government premises for the installation of 5G base stations by mobile service operators

Nurturing Talent

• Implement the all-graduate teaching force policy in public sector primary and secondary schools, involving an additional recurrent funding
• Provide a Life-wide Learning Grant for public sector schools and schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme
• Provide public sector schools and schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme with additional recurrent resources to strengthen the administrative support for schools and their management committees
• Strengthen support for students with special educational needs on various fronts, including enhancing the educational psychologist to school ratio and creating school-based speech therapist posts in public sector ordinary schools
• Provide an additional recurrent funding to subsidise students to undertake designated self-financing sub-degree programmes
• Offer more places through the Vocational Training Council to allow students to join industries requiring specialised skills under the “Earn & Learn” model

Healthcare

• Strengthen primary healthcare services by setting up the first District Health Centre in Kwai Tsing, and extending this model to other districts
• Recognise the positioning of Chinese medicine services in the healthcare system in Hong Kong; provide subsidised in-patient and out-patient services through the Chinese medicine hospital under planning and the Chinese Medicine Centres for Training and Research; and set up a fund to promote applied research and specialisation of Chinese medicine
• Implement and prepare the first and second 10-year Hospital Development Plan 
• Propose to legislate for a ban on the import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertisement of electronic cigarettes and other new smoking products
• Introduce free cervical cancer vaccination for school girls of specific age group
• Launch a pilot scheme to provide free outreach seasonal influenza vaccination services for primary students at schools; increase the subsidy under the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme and expand its eligible groups to cover people aged between 50 and 64
• Expand the target beneficiaries of the Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Programme to cover elderly persons receiving Old Age Living Allowance aged 65 or above

Reference: https://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/2018/eng/highlights.html

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